No. 4 Maryland whips Siena

Posted 7:31AM on Saturday 16th March 2002 ( 23 years ago )

WASHINGTON - Playing the role of a No. 1 seed for the first time, Maryland put on a scintillating performance on a familiar stage. Juan Dixon scored 29 points as the fourth-ranked Terrapins cruised past Siena 85-70 on Friday night in a first-round East Regional game. Dixon, who scored 20 in the first half, fell two points short of matching the school record shared for points in an NCAA tournament game, held jointly by Len Bias and Joe Smith. The Terrapins (27-4) on Sunday will face eighth-seeded Wisconsin, which advanced by defeating St. John's 80-70 earlier Friday night. Playing against the only team in the 65-team field with a losing record, Maryland made itself right at home at the MCI Center, which is only 20 minutes from the College Park campus. The Terrapins have played two games a year at the arena in each of the past five seasons. Their familiarity with the building served as an advantage, as did the backing of the hometown crowd. But Maryland probably would have won without those factors working in their favor. The Terrapins were eager to bounce back from Saturday's loss to North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and Siena had the misfortune of being Maryland's next opponent. The loss ended an improbable run by the Saints (17-19), who were 12-18 before winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament and beating Alcorn State 81-77 in an opening-round game Tuesday. That victory enabled Siena to become only the second team with a losing record to win an NCAA tournament game. But the Saints' bid to become the first 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed was abruptly rejected by a Maryland team on a mission to win its first national championship. James Clinton scored 16 points and Dwayne Archbold added 14 for Siena. Prosper Karangwa, who scored a career-high 31 against Alcorn State, was held to 7 on 3-for-8 shooting. Siena made it interesting in the early going, making six of its first eight shots from the field and using a 7-0 run to close to 19-17. It was 24-21 before the Terrapins used a layup by Lonny Baxter, an alley-oop dunk by Chris Wilcox and a four-point play by reserve Drew Nicholas to go up by 11. The Saints hung around a little longer, but they never could come up with a way to control Dixon, who easily thwarted Siena's man-to-man defense and its 2-3 zone. Dixon single-handedly turned a 10-point cushion into a 50-31 lead during a 3-minute stretch of the first half. First, the senior guard made two free throws and hit a 3-pointer. He then drove to the basket and passed to Tahj Holden, who was fouled on a dunk and made the free throw. Clifton stopped the run with a basket, but Dixon answered with a 3-pointer. Maryland led 52-38 at halftime, but coach Gary Williams angrily called a timeout early in the second half after Siena closed to 52-42. Dixon then scored six points in an 8-0 burst that made it 60-42, ending all suspense except whether the ACC player of the year would break the school single-game scoring mark. Dixon had 29 points when Williams pulled him from the game with 5 minutes to go. Williams put Dixon back in with 1:18 left, but the shooting guard had a short jumper rattle out of the basket with 25 seconds left and did not get off another shot.

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